Circle of Life
by MLaw
Summary: Illya and Napoleon investigate strange formations in a wheat field in Pennsylvania. pre-saga Inspired by images of crop circles posted on LJ by cousin Svetlanacat.


The rotating blades of the Bell helicopter cut the air with a thwup-thwup-thwup-thwup, as Illya Kuryakin, at the controls, kept it hovering above their target site, a field out in the middle of no where in Pennsylvania.

"There it is," he spoke into the microphone of his headset to his partner.

Napoleon lifted his binoculars to take a closer look at the bizarre patterned etched into the wheat field below them.

"What the heck is it?"

"Your guess is as good as mine my friend. I had heard of such things when I was stationed in London, but never had the opportunity to see one.

"One what?"

"They are referred to as crop circles and have been noted during the 19th century in Europe, though there are writings much older that seem to mention them as far back as 1686. The most renowned being the "Mowing Devil" case, in which a farmer's field was said to have been visited by a devilish entity that trampled the crops down in a circle. The event was captured for posterity on a wood engraving. There has been talk for many years that these thing have been made by extraterrestrials."

Solo shrugged his shoulders, pointing to a spot far enough away from the formation so as to not disturb it.

Once the chopper touched down, the agents changed to special suits to protect them from possible contamination and off they went to investigate. They carried with them a kit to take samples, as well as a geiger counter.

As soon as it was turned on it began to click, registering low level radiation.

"We must work quickly Napoleon," Illya took several glass vials from the case, handing them to his partner. "Take samples of the stalks from a few different locations...the center to the outer edge. I will take soil samples."

Napoleon bent over, examining the stalks of wheat. "Hey Illya none of these are broken, they're all bent over without any trace of damage. How is that possible?"

"I do not know. There is something about this image that seems familiar to me, though I cannot put my finger on it just yet."

Their investigation completed; the two agents returned to their chopper, lifting up into the sky, and again hovering over the crop circle while Napoleon took more photographs.

"Let's get out of here partner mine, this place is giving me the heebie-jeebies."

Halfway back to headquarters in New York, Illya snapped his fingers. "I remember!"

"What?"

"The image in the wheat field reminds me of a star constellation. The larger image is the sun, with the planets of the galaxy within, the other one to the right represents Venus, Mars and Earth...though by my calculations, the positions are not correct. Illya's eyes gave away the fact he was doing some mathematical computations in his head.

"I may be incorrect, and will have to verify my assumptions once I have paper and pencil in hand, but the positions of the planets as they are shown will not occur until the year 2012….how is that possible?"

"I want to know how it's possible you figured out all that in your head chum?"

"Simple mathematical equations, though as I said, I will need to double check myself."

"Could it be a warning of some sort?" Solo asked. "Something major happening in 2012?"

"Who knows; it does seem rather odd, and begs the question...who is doing the warning, if that is the case."

Napoleon cocked his eyebrows,"Okay a warning about what? Not like we can time travel, and let's face in 2012 is long way off. Hopefully we'll both still be alive to find out...not that we can do anything as we'll both be in our eighties…"

"Excuse me, I will be seventy-nine...and you will be eighty-one. I do not know about you, but I plan to be fit and active at that age. Perhaps embarking on a new career, maybe something in the medical profession." Illya grinned.

"You know tovarisch, I haven't thought that far ahead…"

Once arriving at the field office, Illya accessed the U.N.C.L.E. mainframe computer as he jotted down his calculations, waiting for the computer to process his data request.

When the cards were sorted and arrived, Illya's theory was confirmed; the crop circles depicted apparent references to planetary orbits. His calculations pinpointed the future dates as best as he could manage to a range between December 21st to the 28th...2012.

He pointed to an enlarged image, one taken by Napoleon.

On the left we can see an "inner planetary" diagram which matches the date of December 21, 2012, as an end to the Mayan Long Count calendar. Around the outside on the left, there are eighteen "spokes of stars" which symbolize an ancient zodiac from Sumeria or Babylon. An elliptical orbit of Mercury is also drawn correctly in crops for the given date."

"Okay tovarisch, what does it all mean?"

"Perhaps it is tied into the Maya...the baktun, which is 20 cycles of the ancient Maya Long Count Calendar,contains 144,000 days, equal to 394.26 tropical years. The Classic period of Maya civilization occurred during the 8th and 9th baktuns of the current calendrical cycle. The current baktun started on 13.0 and ends December 21, 2012, signifying the end of the world?" The Russian looked sheepishly at his partner.

"And this you figured this all out with a pencil and paper. You're kidding, right? The end of the world?" Napoleon's mouth hung open in disbelief.

"Or perhaps simply the end of the current calendar, who knows." Illya ran his fingers through his shaggy hair, leaving it more unkempt.

That conclusion left both men completely dissatisfied...and it would be a long wait before they got their answer.


End file.
